- Danny Hoch
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For other people named Daniel Hoch, see Daniel Hoch (disambiguation).
Danny Hoch Born June 23, 1970
Brooklyn, New York CityDanny Hoch (born 23 November 1970) is an American writer, director and performance artist. He has acted in larger roles in independent and art house movies and had a few small roles in mainstream Hollywood films, with increasing exposure as in 2007's We Own the Night. He is best known for his one man shows, which he would like to be considered theatre rather than performance art.
Contents
Theatre
Two of his three one-man-shows, Jails, Hospitals & Hip Hop and Some People, were published together in 1998. In both pieces he explores the multi-cultural (and multi-lingual) New York he grew up in, providing adept monologues in the languages of the people, Cuban Spanish, Bronx Dominican Spanish or Nuyorican, Jamaican Patois or Trinidadian English.
A prevailing theme in Hoch's work, within its spectrum of unification and deep similarities under superficial differences, is the power of hip hop. Naive or street-wise white youth believing or dreaming that they are black, African-American kids dreaming of making it as a rapper, a Cuban street vendor's love of Snoop Dogg.
Some People followed his first endeavor, Pot Melting, and was broadcast on HBO in the mid-90's, which granted Hoch more national exposure, allowing him to tour more cities to greater crowds. Hoch founded the Hip-Hop Theater Festival in 2000. Together, his three plays have won many awards, including two Obie Awards, a Sundance Writers Fellowship and the CalArts' Alpert Awards in the Arts in Theatre. In 2010 he won a Fellow award granted by United States Artists.[1]
In 2008 Hoch's solo show Taking Over addresses the issue of social imbalance as viewed by people who are pushed out by gentrification in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Appearances in other media
Like the subject of most of Hoch's monologues, his writings often examine topics in hip hop, race and class and he has been published in The Village Voice, New York Times, Harper's, and The Nation.
He has been featured on HBO's Def Poetry, in addition to his Some People being broadcast on that station. The film version of Jails, Hospitals & Hip-Hop has recently been released on DVD.
Hoch was cast in a guest role on a 1995 episode of Seinfeld, (season seven, "The Pool Guy"), but alleges that he was replaced after objecting to what he felt was ethnic stereotyping in the way his character was written.[2]
He is also known for writing, Whiteboyz, a limited released 1999 film in which he also starred with Mark Webber and Dash Mihok as three white Iowa teenagers who long for a gangsta rap life. The film also stars Piper Perabo and Eugene Byrd and rappers as luminous as Snoop Doggy Dog, Big Pun, Fat Joe, dead prez, Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh.
Filmography
Year Title Role Notes 2012 Safe Julius Barkow Also starring Jason Statham 2011 Nurse Jackie Mr. Digby Television series; episode ...Deaf Blind Tumor Pee-Test 2010 Blue Bloods Billy Leo Television series; episode Officer Down 2010 Henry's Crime Joe Also starring Keanu Reeves 2009 Taking Chance TSA Agent Also starring Kevin Bacon 2007 We Own the Night Jumbo Falsetti Also starring Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg 2007 Lucky You Bobby Basketball Also starring Eric Bana and Drew Barrymore 2007 Blackbird Pinchback Also starring Michael Shannon 2007 Bam Bam and Celeste Neo-Nazi 2006 Wyclef Jean in America Television series; writer 2005 War of the Worlds Intersection Guy Cop Directed by Steven Spielberg 2003 American Splendor Marty Also starring Paul Giamatti 2003 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Kracker Television series; episode Soulless 2003 The Other Shoe Abraham 2003 Washington Heights Mickey Award-winning independent film [3] 2001 Black Hawk Down Spc. Dominick Pilla Directed by Ridley Scott 2001 Prison Song Harris Also starring Q-Tip 2001 3 A.M. Father 2000 Bamboozled Timmi Hillnigger Directed by Spike Lee 2000 Jails, Hospitals, & Hip--Hop Writer, Director 1999 Whiteboyz Flip Also writer 1998 The Thin Red Line Pvt. Carni Directed by Terrence Malick 1997 SUBWAYStories: Tales from the Underground Edward (segment "Honey-Getter") Made-for-television film 1997 His and Hers Lenny Also starring Liev Schreiber 1996 Sureshot Also starring Mekhi Phifer References
External links
Categories:- 1970 births
- Slam poets
- American dramatists and playwrights
- American film actors
- Living people
- People from Brooklyn
- American performance artists
- American spoken word artists
- Guggenheim Fellows
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